The Escape
by peaceloveanddeath
Summary: Julia Johnston has been forced from the big city where she grew up to the small town she hates with all her heart. When she discovers the TARDIS, her life will be changed forever.
1. Chapter 1

It was a cold night. It was almost 11:00 p.m. I sat on the bench outside of the movie theatre with Maggie. Our movie ended a while ago, yet our parents were nowhere in sight. In fact, it was quite empty. Quite eerie.

I rubbed my arms together in order to keep warm. A gust of October wind blew again, giving me goose bumps. Not even my jacket could keep me warm now.

"How long have we been out here?" I asked Maggie. She checked her watch. "Almost an hour..." she groaned. I sighed and just looked up at the darkened sky, a few stars here and there. The only thing keeping us company were the neon lights of the theatre.

"Are we seriously the only people here?" I asked Maggie again. She just looked around then nodded. One of the things about living in a small country town: no one stays out past 10:30. This was the last movie of the night. The theatre was closed and there were no cars about anywhere. Quite eerie.

I looked back up at the sky, trying to study the stars. The stars you could see out here, but not in the city, where I was from. These neon lights of the theatre kept me hoping, hoping for a chance to go back to where I belong. But for now I have Maggie and the stars.

A shooting star! I saw it go across the sky. I have never seen a live shooting star before, although I'm told they're common. "See it, Maggie?" I pointed to where it had passed. She squinted her eyes upward, searching, although it was gone by now.

"Yes, yes I do!" she said with a smile, pointing up to it. But how is this possible? It had been gone a while by now. I looked up again. I saw it! But this wasn't a shooting star. No, it was swirling around, going this way and that... In fact, it looked like it was getting bigger!

"Maggie!" I said in a worried tone, standing up. The star was quite large now, zooming towards us. I grabbed Maggie by the wrist and pulled her away from the bench, closer to the theatre. From a safe distance, we watched the glowing ball of light crash into the dirt trench on the side of the road across from the theatre. In the dark, we could see smoke coming up from whatever had just landed.

We just stood and stared, not sure of what to think of it. Then my stupid head got an idea.

"Let's go check it out, Maggie!" I said, starting on my way. She grabbed me by the upper arm suddenly, pulling me back. "No! What are you thinking!? It could be a bomb or, or an alien or something!" she said in a shaky voice. I just smiled at her. "Even better."

She wouldn't let go of me, so I just pulled her across the road to it. The smoke was starting to go away, revealing what it was... I'm not even sure what it was.

It was a box. A rectangular box. Wooden, painted a bright blue, from what I could tell in the dark. The top of it lit up, saying "Police Box" around it. Whatever that was.

"What is it?" Maggie said in a worried tone, standing a few feet behind me, as I examined the box. As far as I could tell, it was sideways, the long part on its side.

"A police box," I answered her, looking closely at one of the sides. It was on its left side, as I figured out which side was the door. I silently examined the door, I wonder what would happen if I just... pulled this handle?

I reached out to touch it when there was some lights coming from one direction of the road. Maggie gasped and pulled me away from the box, across the street, and back towards the bench in front of the movie theatre.

The lights pulled in, revealing the old, beat-up truck that belonged to Maggie's dad. He idled there while Maggie whispered for me to not go near that police box. I lived too far away for her folks to drive me home on the little two lane road. She gave me a hug goodbye, then ran to her dad's truck, who sped away as soon as the door shut.

I stood there under the neon lights, watching the old truck drive way, leaving me alone and unarmed in the dark. I walked towards the movie theatre to see if there was anyone there. No one. Not a soul in sight. I was very cold and very much alone.

Perfect amount of eeriness to go check out a blue police box that fell from the sky.

I ran across the street to where it laid on its side. I landed in the dirt trench and carefully walked up to it. I bent down to where the handle was, gripping my hand onto it. I blinked hard, now scared. But I was here now, might as well-

I pulled the door open and a bright light spilled onto the dirt. I jumped back and nearly screamed when a man rolled out of the box and onto the dirt. I held my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming and circled around him. I didn't want to touch him, in fear of him being dead. But I knew I had to.

After taking a minute to calm myself down again, I went onto my knees, reaching my hand out to touch the man's shoulder and roll him onto his back. I was afraid his face would be mauled, pull an Alfred Hitchcock on me, but that wasn't the case. I rolled him over and just saw the peaceful face of a young man. His eyes were closed and his face was a bit pale. He was actually quite cute.

I placed two fingers on his neck to check his pulse, seeing his red bowtie while doing so. It made me smile. He was wearing a light blue buttoned-up shirt with red suspenders. An odd outfit, I agree, but somehow he looked good in it.

I pulled my hand away in shock as he opened his eyes and yelled. I gasped, falling back on the dirt, trying to crawl away backwards as he jumped up, turning in circles.

"Yes! Yes! I'M STILL ALIVE!" he yelled in joy to the air... in a British accent! I smiled at his celebration- until he turned at me.

He walked towards me quickly, as I still tried to crawl away, but he was faster. He bent over and pulled me up by my hands, giving me a huge smile, which scared me. He held me by my upper arms, then hugged me. He was only a bit taller than me, which is weird because I'm taller than everyone.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he said to me in a British accent, then released me and turned around, back to his police box.

I stood where I was, just staring in awe at what just happened. He walked around his box, examining it, then walking around it again, this time holding out a pen-sized stick that had a green light on the end of it and made a weird humming noise as he pointed it at the box.

He stopped at where he started, spun around to find me, which he did, then walked back to me. "Now tell me, how did I get here, who are you, and how did you find me?"

I stood, stunned, unable to speak. "I-I, um," I just shook my head, "please, tell me who you are, and how the hell you got here, and what the hell is that!?" I sorta spazzed out when I pointed at the police box.

"Yes, well, I suppose you should know. That," he said, pointing at the police box, "is the TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, and I believe I fell out of the sky here, and I am The Doctor. Just The Doctor, the one and only." He smiled at me, as if this information would help me at all.

"The Doctor? Doctor who?" I was stopped in the middle of my question as the Doctor put his finger to my lips, stopping the question. "Just... The Doctor."

He just put his finger back down and looked up at me. "Now tell me: where am I?"

I just raised an eyebrow. "Um, Morbidton, USA."

He just nodded. "Am I anywhere near Utah?" he asked.

"Utah? No. No... Same country, but no..." I answered him slowly.

He just nodded. "And you are?" he looked into my eyes, searching for an answer I didn't want to give.

"Julia," I finally said truthfully. "Julia?" he asked, taking out his light up pen, cleaning it with his shirt. "And do you have a last name, Julia?" he asked, looking up at me.

"Johnston," I answered truthfully again. I never told people anything about me, but there was just something about him...

"Julia Johnston..." he said to himself, trying it out. "And how did you find me, Miss Johnston?"

I swallowed and pointed to the movie theatre across the street. "I watched you fall out of the sky, from over there, then I came here because I was... curious..."

"Curious?" The Doctor whispered, walking up to me. I nodded. "Well, you know what they say," he continued, taking out his light up pen again and waving it around at me, distracting and scaring me. "Curiosity killed the Dalek." He turned off his humming, light up pen, putting it into the inside pocket of his tweed coat jacket and spinning around quickly towards the police box.

"Excuse me?" I asked him, walking more quickly now to keep up with him. I was right behind him when he spun around again. "Yes, haven't you heard it before?"

We were face to face now, as I backed up from when he looked right at me. "Um... no, no I haven't." I answered him.

He just stared at me for a few long seconds. I stared back at him, not sure of what was going on. Suddenly, "Yes, well, can you tell me the date?" I jumped when he spoke.

"Um, the date?" I asked, a little behind.

"Yes, the day, year and month." he said. I closed my eyes. "Um, November 2nd, 2004."

"2004, 2004..." he mumbled to himself for a while, pacing back and forth in front of the blue box. Suddenly, he stopped. "Of course!"

He spun around again to face me. "I was sent here to help someone, and you must be that someone! There isn't really anything important about 2004 in America that I can recollect, and I don't detect any alien activity, therefore, you must have been wishing really, really hard about something, were you not?"

I just stared at him, my mouth sort of gaping open. I held my hands behind my back, closing my mouth. "Um, well, yes, I suppose I was..." my voice trailed off as I looked up at the stars.

"Perfect!" he stated loudly, causing me to jump and break out of my trance. I looked over at him as he was looking down at a rectangular piece of paper in a folder-type thing that would hold an ID.

"See here," he said, flipping the ID card thing out once, then back again, too quickly for me to actually see. "This here, this is my psychic paper," he rocked onto his toes and back down again as he explained this to me, "it can show you anything I want it to show you, my credentials, my fake IDs, the sort. It can also take messages, and I believe this is you," he walked up to me to show me the white piece of paper- it was my driver's license.

"How did you get my driver's license?" I said loudly. "I didn't," he said. He folded up the psychic paper and put it inside his jacket pocket. "But now I know it is you I was sent here to help. I have a time machine/space ship, what would you like to do?"

He stood there with his arms behind his back, rocking on his feet, unable to stand still, with a huge smile on his face, waiting for my answer.

All I could manage was a weak, "What?"


	2. Chapter 2

"As I said before, it's a TARDIS: Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It's a fancy title for a spaceship-time-machine. I can go anywhere, to any time. And you, my dear, seem like a someone who could use such a contraption," he explained, thinking this was a well-enough description.

"But..." I began timidly, "it says "Police Box" on the top." I looked from him to the Police- excuse me, TARDIS, pathetically laying on its side.

He looked behind him at the TARDIS as well, "Well, yes, it is a police box from the year 1963, but it is like that because of the chameleon circuit, which hasn't worked in 48 years, if you add those years in a continuous line, not all zig-zaggily as I usually live..." He looked down at his hands and then back up at me.

"So..." I began, "you're... a time-traveler?"

He smiled, pointing at me, "Now you're getting it," he walked quickly up next to me and put his arm around me, walking me toward the TARDIS, "I know what you're thinking, "Doctor, this is impossible!" and I am here to tell you that, yes, it is, in your time period, but," he let go of my shoulder and faced me, now one hand on each shoulder, as if to tell me something extremely important, "in a few thousand years, the human race will invent time travel, thanks to a certain Time Lord giving a certain failing scientist the means to," he let go of my shoulders, putting his hands on his hips, continuing talking, "sure, I didn't exactly mean to give it to him, but it's not like the contraption he invented could go very far in time. And it can't even go into space!" He raised his hands above his head to get his point across.

I studied the man, trying to decide if I should trust this guy. Yes, everything he was saying was completely mad, but something about him was likable. It might've been the hair or the bowtie, the crazy outfit or his beautiful eyes, probably his smile and his voice, the light he had in him when he explained things, but I believed every word he said.

"So, Doctor, how did you come across this... TARDIS?" I asked him, smiling. His face grew brighter, knowing he had won me over. "Well, I kinda... borrowed it, from my home planet-"

"Woah, wait," I said, stopping him, "home planet?"

"Oh, yes, had I not mentioned that earlier?" he said, spinning around to the TARDIS. "I'm a Time Lord, from the planet of Gallifrey, at your service!" He saluted me as he stood behind the top of the TARDIS. "You mind helping?" he asked, pointing to it.

In a shocked trance, I hurried to him, trying as we might to put the TARDIS upright, it was far too heavy for our combined strength.

"Shouldn't aliens have some sort of advantage over humans? Like super strength or telepathy or something?" I asked him, giving up on trying to put the TARDIS right. He looked at me, "I would ask the same to you, as you are the alien to me."

He gave up as well, walking around it. "Wait, if you're an alien, why do you look human?" I pestered.

"If you're human, why do you look Time Lord?" he asked me in response. I stood still, thinking about this remark. It made sense.

"Well, there is only one way to fix it," he said, after waving his light up pen around a bit, "I will just have to go in and re-park it. Wait here."

He opened the door and crawled in. "Wait, Doctor!" I yelled to him. "Yes?" his voice echoed, which was a bit strange.

"You'll come back, right?" I asked him in a worried tone. I couldn't just be given this information for him to just disappear. "Of course I'll come back, I always come back." He crawled back to me to look at me, his smiling face and bright eyes seemed to be reading my thoughts.

"That's what my dad said too. He never came back," I said to him, a serious look on my face. His smile was lost immediately, looking from one eye to the other. "Here," he handed me his light up pen, "Julia Johnston, you are in charge of the sonic screwdriver, one of my most prized possessions. You hold on to that, I have a time machine, I will be back."

I took the sonic screwdriver and looked down at it. It looked nothing like a screwdriver.

He gave me one last smile, then pulled the door closed. I didn't know if I would see that face again, I didn't know why I was waiting for him, or where he could possibly go. The longer I stood there, the more I started doubting the Doctor. But of what he promised me, a trip in a time machine? I knew what I wanted, my reason for believing.

I looked up in time to see the sideways police box disappear, much like the Cheshire cat in Wonderland. If I hadn't heard it or seen it for myself, I wouldn't have believed it.

And there I stood, in the dirt ditch across the street from the movie theatre in Morbidton, U.S.A, in a pitch-black October night, alone, waiting for the Doctor to return.


	3. Chapter 3

Not two seconds after the TARDIS disappeared did I hear the familiar sound of it returning. I spun around to see its last few seconds of reappearing behind me, it now standing up correctly.

The door swung open, revealing the Doctor and his smiling face, "See, I told you I would be right back," he stepped out of the TARDIS to me. "Did you take care of the screwdriver for me?" I nodded, handing it to him.

"Doesn't look much like a screwdriver to me," I said to him. He looked over it once, then put it in his inside coat pocket. "Yeah, well that doesn't look much like a time machine to you either," he said pointing his thumb at the TARDIS. I shrugged, indifferent.

"So, a trip in your time machine, you say?" I asked him, following him around the TARDIS. He spun around to smile at me. "Are you ready?" he asked. I nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Then come on in," he said, holding out his hand for me to take. I smiled, holding onto it, as he snapped his fingers on his other hand and the door opened on its own. He pulled me through the doors.

_It is like magic, none that can be described. The first time you walk through the doors of the TARDIS are the few most precious moments of your life, ones that you will be able to look back on and smile, knowing they are private between you and the Doctor, that no one would ever believe you, something being bigger on the inside than the outside. You may not even believe yourself._

I walked through the TARDIS doors, expecting the inside to be cramped and awkward, but it was nothing like that, nothing at all. It was bright and beautiful and...

"It's bigger on the inside." I stated in amazement. The Doctor let go of my hand, hurrying up some steps that were impossibly there, to what looked like a control panel in the center of the room we were in.

I looked around in awe, then gingerly walked up the same steps the Doctor did. On that level, I ran a circle around the control panel, starting and ending where the Doctor was. He fiddled with some buttons and pretended not to watch me, but I knew he was. To see what I would do.

"Impressed?" he asked. "Very," I answered him, still looking around. "But... how?"

"Time Lord technology," he stated, "the laws of physics are different on every planet, as all beings should know, but think of the TARDIS as the handbag Hermione uses in the 7th Harry Potter, and we are just the books she threw into it. Miss Rowling got that idea from me."

I couldn't not smile at this... man. Time Lord. Whatever he was, I absolutely loved him.

"Don't go anywhere," I said quickly. I ran out the door and circled the TARDIS, making sure it just didn't grow when we walked in. Would that have been weirder?

I banged on the side of the TARDIS. "Can you hear that?" I yelled. "No!" the Doctor yelled back. I laughed, stepping in then out again. It was still the same.

I finally gave up on figuring it out and walked inside again. "Satisfied?" he asked when I walked up to him again. I nodded, embarrassed.

"Don't worry, that's not the weirdest thing someone has ever done," he said to me. I smiled, looking at the other stairs leading other ways.

"Where do those go?" I asked him, pointing in their directions. He leaned and looked where I was pointing. "Oh, those go to, well, every which way. You'll learn how to navigate this place eventually, as I have..." he dropped off what he was saying and began talking to himself, "mostly. I mean, I found that spa room in the 3rd second left corridor. I never knew I had a spa room. A pool room, but not a spa room..."

"You have a pool... in a time machine?" I asked, not trying to hide my surprise. He nodded as if this was normal. "Of course, and a library, ATM machine, wardrobe, bedroom. You name it, I've got it!" He smiled at me, then walked to the other side of the control panel.

"Bedroom?" I asked. He nodded, "Mine, but I hardly ever use it," he said as he looked up at me. "Do I use it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged. "If you want. I have many bedrooms. Do you like bunk beds? I have bunk beds. Bunk beds are cool."

I couldn't help but laugh. This seemed to satisfy him, as he gave me a very attractive half smile.

"I have a question about the TARDIS, Doctor," I said to him. "Yes? Ask away."

"If I go outside, like so," I ran down the steps and opened the TARDIS door, standing on the dirt outside, "does time pass differently out here as it does in there?"

The Doctor began a long speech on why it was practically the same time, when I looked to my right at the road. I could see a pair of headlights coming down the road towards the movie theatre. I gasped, recognizing the Mercedes that could only belong to my mom.

No, I don't want to leave! I want to stay with the Doctor! I took out my phone, checking the time: 11:30, exactly. I took one last look outside at Morbidton, one last look at the headlights of the Mercedes, the neon lights of the movie theatre, then walked through the doors of the TARDIS, closing them tightly behind me.

I bounded up the steps to the Doctor. "Alright, Doctor, I know where I want to go."


	4. Chapter 4

He smiled at me, "Anywhere, Miss Johnston." I smiled, "Is this a three wish kind of deal, or what? Because I would like to visit planets, as well as different times, not to be pushy."

The Doctor laughed, "Of course not, it's good to travel with people with different places in mind, I'm guaranteed a fun trip!" He spun on his heel and made another round of checking different buttons and things.

"So, where to first?" he asked finally. I thought back, so many places and times! "Surprise me, Doctor, take me to a planet!"

He gave me a huge grin, then said, "I was hoping you'd say that." He ran to the other side of the panel, I following him, pushing buttons and pulling levers.

He froze in front of a final larger lever, putting his right hand on it, then looking at me. "Are you ready for this?" he asked me in a serious voice, but a smile still on his face. I nodded excitedly.

"Then... hold on!" he yelled, pulling the lever. "Geronimo!"

The TARDIS lurched back, the Doctor held on to the lever and I held on to the Doctor. I felt like I was being pushed into the floor, but my adrenaline was keeping me from doing so. As the Doctor's upper arms tensed up from hanging on to the lever, I held on to him, enjoying this a lot more than I should.

Then it stopped. The feeling of being forced into the floor vanished and I was left standing upright holding onto the Doctor's upper left arm.

"Come, check this out!" he said as I let him go, bounding to the door. I ran after him, still unable to keep up. He threw the doors open to... nothingness. I couldn't see it at first, but we were currently floating next to the moon.

I walked up to the edge of the TARDIS, "What am I- oh my God!" I backed away from the edge of the TARDIS when I saw that we were just floating above the earth. He laughed. "It's okay, Julia, come look."

I had always been fascinated with the stars. The planets. Rockets. Anything that NASA did. For the longest time, I wanted to be an astronaut. Even went to space camp in Alabama. It wasn't until I went to high school when I realized how smart you would have to be to become an astronaut. How hard it is to get into NASA, let alone in a spaceship. Who cares about the whole probability of dying when you get to explore uncharted depths of the universe? I don't think the Doctor realized how big a deal this was to me, floating next to the moon, the place that I always dreamed of living in a bubble of plants.

"Can I… can I go out there?" I asked the Doctor. The Doctor leaned against the doorframe of the TARDIS, arms crossed, smiling at my fascination. "Of course you can," he answered, biting his lip. He looked so cute.

Without asking any questions, I stepped off the ledge of the TARDIS and began floating above the earth. My hair and clothes floated around me; I was weightless, looking down at my home. It was beautiful.

I spread my arms out, trying to swim in the galaxy, even though I wasn't going anywhere. The Doctor reached out and grabbed my foot. I looked down to see his smiling face. "Just making sure you don't float away, Julia," he yelled up to me. I laughed. "Thank you!"

He finally pulled me down to the TARDIS, where the gravity grabbed me and forced me to land on the Doctor. He lay on his back, as I lay on his front, my hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes. We just stared at each other for longer than a moment, breathless.

"RIGHT!" the Doctor yelled, interrupting my thoughts, sitting up, rolling me off of him. "Next planet, Miss Johnston?" the Doctor yelled, running up to the control panel to press buttons and pull levers.

I finally hopped up to run up to him. "Where to, Doctor?" I asked him.

He continued pulling down levers, then spun to face me, "Well, one of my favorites is Xoona, in the Spyder Galaxy. A beautiful planet, had many a vacation there years ago. You'll love it!" he turned back to the control panel to lift the final lever that made the TARDIS warp, giving me that familiar sinking feeling in my stomach. I held on to the Doctor by the upper arm, as he held on to the control panel. The TARDIS spun a warped to our new destination.

We came to a sudden stop, where both the Doctor and I dropped to the floor with a thud. We looked at each other and laughed. "Feels like we're here," I said.

The Doctor jumped up, "Yes, yes we are," he held out his hand to help me up, then ran to the doors. He opened them just a crack, stuck his head out, then stuck his head back in the slam the doors. He turned to face me, a huge smile on his face, his arms behind his back at the door handles.

"Miss Johnston, I give you _Xoona."_


End file.
